Auto Complete not completing

[Guest]

Hi. I have an Excel document at work containing some drop down menus. I like
the Auto Complete feature that Excel uses and it has been working beautifully
except for this one column in my worksheet. For some reason it has stopped
auto completing and I am forced to either use the drop down menu or type the
whole thing in. :S

I have no spaces between rows, and I have made sure the Auto Complete
feature is switched on in the Options menu. It is working on my other columns
(regardless of whether they contain drop down menus or not). Any ideas?
Thanks so much.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Maybe you haven't typed enough to give enough information so that the
autocomplete can guess the what it should be.

What do you have in that column that's close to the same value that you're
entering?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply but that isn't it. I've tried typing each letter really
slowly in the hope that it will auto complete but it just won't.

I have a set list of values in this column - Spring 2005, Autumn 2006 and so
on. They are all quite different in spelling. When I first started working
with it, I would only have to type "sp" or "au" in the cell and the rest of
the value would come up. I have other columns that are set up in exactly the
same way (but with different values obviously) and the auto complete works
perfectly. It's very strange.

Cheers.

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you have:

Autumn 2006
Autumn 2005

in the list, then excel won't be able to guess the autocomplete entry until the
last character.

Could it be???

 

[Guest]

Aaaaha! I think this is the problem. I do have some repetition. This must be
it.

*smacks forehead* D'Oh!

Thanks a lot!

 

[Dave Peterson]

Maybe alternative...

You could use Autocorrect.

Tools|Autocorrect options|Autocorrect Tab

Have A6 be replaced with Autumn 2006.

Since A6 looks like a range address, you'll want to clean up the autocorrect
list when you're done.

Else, it'll be difficult to type =a5+a6

(or use a different string to get corrected: _A6 (with leading underscore))

Be aware that the Autocorrect list is common to the office suite of programs.

Aaaaha! I think this is the problem. I do have some repetition. This must be
it.

*smacks forehead* D'Oh!

Thanks a lot!